Pays d'Enhaut

Snowpack

With a lot of new fallen snow and strong winds from the northwest at times, extensive wind slabs have developed in the north. Towards the south, the wind slabs are appreciably smaller. Hardly any snow has drifted in central and southern Ticino. New snow and snowdrift are prone to triggering.

The old snowpack has become soaked up to over 3000 m on east-, south- and west-facing slopes and up to around 2500 m on north-facing slopes. Falling temperatures have caused the old snowpack to stabilise. Wet and gliding avalanche activity has decreased appreciably. Gliding avalanches are still possible in very isolated cases.

Weather forecast until Thursday, 18.04.2024

Except on the southern flank of the Alps, snow will fall above approximately 900 m, with the largest quantities on the northern flank of the Alps. It will be fairly sunny in the south.

New snow

From Wednesday evening to Thursday evening, the following amounts of fresh snow are expected above approximately 1400 m:

• Northern Alpine Ridge, western Lower Valais: 15 to 30 cm;
• rest of the northern flank of the Alps, rest of Lower Valais, rest of northern Grisons: 5 to 15 cm;
• elsewhere: a few centimetres, mostly dry on the southern flank of the Alps.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between -6 °C in the north and -3 °C in the south.

Wind

Winds will be strong at times along the Main Alpine Ridge and in the south, otherwise light to moderate, blowing from the north.

Weather review for Wednesday, 17.04.2024

In the north, snow fell above approximately 1100 m, heavily in places on the northern flank of the Alps. It was fairly sunny in the south.

New snow

From the start of the snowfall on Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon, the following amounts of snow fell above approximately 1800 m:

• northern flank of the Alps from the Trento region to the Glarus Alps excluding the Prealps, northern Valais: 30 to 50 cm;
• Prealps, extreme west of Lower Valais, northern Grisons: 15 to 30 cm;
• Jura, Upper Valais, rest of the Gotthard region, central Grisons, Lower Engadine north of the Inn: 5 to 15 cm;
• further south: less or it remained dry.

Temperature

At midday at 2000 m, between -5 °C in the north and -2 °C in the south.

Wind

Winds were mostly moderate from the northwest.

Trend until Saturday, 20.04.2024

The snowfall will end in the north during Thursday night into Friday. There will be brief clear spells on Friday morning, then snowfall will set in again in the north and continue until Sunday. The snowfall level will rise to around 1200 m on Friday and fall back to 800 m on Saturday. From Friday morning to Saturday afternoon, another 30 to 50 cm of snow will fall on the Northern Alpine Ridge and in Prättigau. South of the Main Alpine Ridge, it will remain largely dry and it will be partly sunny on both days. The wind will blow strongly from the west in the north on Friday and strongly from the northwest at high altitudes in all regions. On Saturday, the wind will shift to the north and blow strongly at high altitudes and in the south.

The danger of dry avalanches will temporarily decrease slightly on Friday. It will increase again on Saturday and naturally triggered avalanches are to be expected, some of them large. The conditions for snow sports outside marked and open pistes will be critical in the north. In central and southern Ticino, the avalanche danger will hardly change.

In regions with a lot of new snow, loose snow avalanches and moist snow slides are to be expected on Friday as a result of solar radiation in the early morning.